With the recent natural disasters top of mind, business customers are interested in ensuring their operations are uninterrupted by a hurricane, power outage, computer virus or other unplanned incident.

While in-house business continuity and disaster recovery (increasingly known as BCDR) solutions predominate now, business decision makers will be motivated by the convenience and security afforded by managed solutions from trusted sources, according to a new report published in January by In-Stat.

Research from IDC backs up this claim. In July 2006, the firm published a report that found companies feel more secure when they turn to an outsourcer rather than handling in house when it comes to safeguarding information systems availability against disaster.

Our study found outsourcing information availability can help enterprises ensure people, systems and information stay connected, and the ability to maintain business processes in an always-on world, said David Tapper, program director, IT Outsourcing & Utility Services at IDC and author of the report. Additionally, the study highlighted how companies are looking to gain access to newer models of service delivery that help them keep pace with changes in availability requirements.

According to In-Stat, 16 percent of the businesses currently using in-house solutions are planning to outsource their backup and storage needs in the next 12 months. This figure is 33 percent among midsized businesses. In-Stats data also notes that BCDR applications are the leading value-add businesses would seek in conjunction with IP VPN services.

Find out how you can advise customers in creating a viable backup plan during back-to-back sessions today, from 9-10:50 a.m. The tutorial starts with, When Disaster Strikes: Business Continuity Planning, a session moderated by disaster recovery expert Leo Wrobel, president and CEO of TelLAWCom Labs Inc. Wrobel was director of network planning and engineering for Dallas-based Lomas and Nettleton Information Systems, where he pioneered the first microwave bypass shot for a financial services company in Texas, and negotiated the first agreement in Texas to run voice and data services over the local cable provider 20 years before cable modems came into widespread use. Wrobel was later responsible for construction of the first computer disaster recovery center in the United States colocated in a telephone central office. For more than 20 years, his endeavors in the field of disaster recovery planning have brought him widespread acclaim. He has been published in 10 books and more than 400 trade articles.

In this session, Wrobel will go over the basics of contingency planning:

What is it? What are its objectives?

What are you protecting?

What should your plan include?

How much will it cost?

How do you get started?

How do you sell disaster recovery?

What profits can be made?

Joining Wrobel on the panel are Larry Jones, president and CEO of SDN Global; Lenny Chesal, executive vice president and sales and chief marketing officer at Host.net; and Amy Mathieu, agent sales manager at SwiftReach Networks.

Following this informative address is a panel discussion looking more closely at commissionable products that support disaster recovery planning in the session, Plan B: Selling Disaster Recovery Products. Experts from a variety of vendors will talk about creative offers that can help you ensure your customers communications systems stay up and running.

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